Alerts that would protect schoolchildren

Last month, an elementary school principal on the Lake-McHenry county border was found partially clothed in a Wisconsin motel room with two teenage girls, porn, pot, wine coolers and cognac.

He promptly was fired.

We've reported and read enough stories about educators and support staff committing crimes like this to know that what this principal is accused of isn't an aberration.

Late last year, Senior State Government Editor John Patterson reported that there were several educators in Illinois who had been convicted of felonies ranging from criminal sexual abuse to cocaine possession in a school who still were licensed to teach.

Some state legislators now are aiming to prevent suspected and convicted felons from working alongside our children in our schools.

This week the Illinois House approved a proposal that would require that state and regional education officials be notified whenever a teacher is fired or quits under suspicion of student abuse. The plan also requires prosecutors to notify school officials when a teacher or staff member is convicted of felony drug or sex charges.

The plan also calls for speeding up the process of revoking or suspending teaching certificates in these cases. If the proposal were to become law, school superintendents would be expected to notify state and regional officials within 30 days whenever someone resigns or is fired because of a reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect.

Critics of the bill have raised concerns that it will result in punishing innocent teachers and staff members. We are sympathetic to that concern, knowing as we do in Illinois that sometimes innocent people have landed on death row. And we remain ardent advocates for due process.

Still, the safety of our children is paramount. The case of the principal found with teen girls in a motel repulses us. He was found by police wearing boxer shorts. He is accused of performing a sex act on the 16-year-old girl while the 15-year-old was in the room. He admitted buying the alcohol.

There seems to be little to dispute in the case. And the idea that he somehow could move to another location and find employment in a school is even more repugnant.

Frankly, we are more concerned that school officials and prosecutors will have trouble handling the quick and widespread notification required to all who need to know than we are about sullying the reputations of school workers accused of this kind of blatant abuse.

We urge the state Senate and the governor to follow the House in approving this plan quickly and with overwhelming support. Our children need our protection.